"Electrical System Drain. Service Required." DIY Fixes?

[lister coggs]

Hi everyone!

I’m hitting a wall with my 2022 Lightning SR and looking for advice before I get deeper into expensive dealer diagnostic fees. (My bumper-to-bumper warranty has freshly expired.)

I am getting the persistent "Electrical System Drain. Service Required" message.

The truck constantly goes into "Deep Sleep" mode overnight (no remote access/FordPass control). This did start occurring after the most recent update (which included Blue Cruise lane-changing and PAAK walk-away lock), so there may be a connection.

What I’ve done so far:

-Replaced the 12V Battery: Installed a new AGM battery

-Manual Charge: I've tried two times to top off the new battery to 100% and reset the BMS.

-PAAK Disabled / Bluetooth on Phone Off Overnight - I turned my Bluetooth off in case its proximity in my house was triggering the vehicle to turn on.

-Accessories: Unplugged everything. The rear-view mirror connected dashcam (which I used for 2 years with no issue) is gone. Nothing in 12V/USB/120V/240V outlets.

The issue persists despite the new battery. I checked my BMS Sensor on the negative terminal.

-The part number is NL3T-10C652-BA.

-I know CSP 23B70 calls for replacing sensors ending in -AC or -AD, but I have -BA. Has anyone with the "-BA" sensor had this failure?

Questions:

-Since I'm out of the 3-year/60k km bumper-to-bumper (it's a '22), is this BMS sensor covered under any emissions or EV component warranty in Canada?

-If the sensor is fine, what else causes the "System Drain" message on a healthy new battery? A stuck module (GWM/APIM)?

-Has anyone successfully argued for "Goodwill" coverage on this since it's a known defect (CSP 23B70) even if my VIN/Part# isn't perfectly aligned with the bulletin?

-Any advice on costs or DIY fixes (Forscan? Removing fuses to trace? etc.) would be appreciated. I have a feeling this is software-related, so I'm tempted to just run a manual cut-off to the 12V battery until the next software update. I'm concerned this is going to cost a lot of money at the dealer to sort out.

Thanks all!

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[Heliian]

Installed a new AGM battery

How old is the battery and was it tested? Sometimes batteries will sit on a shelf for a long time and lose capacity.

 

[bmwhitetx]

Your BMS is the new one. Your dealer must of performed the service at some point. So I think you can rule it out as the issue.

Also no need to constantly reset it. It stores the age of the battery so every time you reset you are telling the truck you have a new battery and it will treat it as such when calculating the SOC.

Do you have a OBD dongle in the OBD port?

 

[lister coggs]

How old is the battery and was it tested? Sometimes batteries will sit on a shelf for a long time and lose capacity.

Good question. I didn't test it. I do have a battery load tester but assumed it wouldn't work with this battery. There is a sticker on it says 5/25, so it's not that old I don't think.

Your BMS is the new one. Your dealer must of performed the service at some point. So I think you can rule it out as the issue.

Also no need to constantly reset it. It stores the age of the battery so every time you reset you are telling the truck you have a new battery and it will treat it as such when calculating the SOC.

Do you have a OBD dongle in the OBD port?

No OBD dongle in the port. However, I did just put one in and checked error codes. I got a B1616 CONFIRMED - Wiper Rear Disable Switch Circuit Open: System Internal Fail with my BlueDriver dongle, so that could be a hint to what's causing this.

 

[bmwhitetx]

Your DTC code is B1616. Your reader is giving a possible explanation that is odd. The code is generically a high system load when truck is off. If you search for “F-150 B1616” you will find others with it and what they found. A quick look shows some folks had a bad module, headlights left on, etc. Good luck.

 

[lister coggs]

Your DTC code is B1616. Your reader is giving a possible explanation that is odd. The code is generically a high system load when truck is off. If you search for “F-150 B1616” you will find others with it and what they found. A quick look shows some folks had a bad module, headlights left on, etc. Good luck.

Appreciate it. I'll give an update tomorrow after the dealer checks it out.

 

[KSkel]

For me I turned off Alarm (motion sensors) at home and walk up lighting if my key fob gets close to the truck. I also turned off walk away lock just to be sure.

 

[lister coggs]

For me I turned off Alarm (motion sensors) at home and walk up lighting if my key fob gets close to the truck. I also turned off walk away lock just to be sure.

I'll try that overnight tonight, thanks!

 

[Thndrdwg]

I had this same response on my 24 Flash after the Sync update. It wouldn't do BC 1.4 update the next day because the system kept going into Battery Saver mode. I tried trying a trickle charge but kept charger faulting saying bad battery. Finally I jump started a low voltage battery condition of 9.7 volts and let the truck run in place for an hour and all faults disappeared and truck was able to do update now on BC 1.4 and next day system had another update completed on its own with no issues. An odd quirk with the initial GSM update the Frunk accessed alarm would go off every 2 hours for no reason. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated the overnight alarm resets. Frunk alarm cleared up when I finally got the battery saver mode issue resolved after the jump start and left running for an hour to recharge the battery.

 

[lister coggs]

I'll try that overnight tonight, thanks!

FYI - I turned off all vehicle connectivity, unpaired my phone, turned off welcome lights, turned off alarm. The drain still occurred. Weird.

Trying to get it to the dealer today for further diagnosis.

 

[chl]

When you got a new battery did they/you reset the BMS?
In the ICE F-150s when you put in a new battery, and forgot to reset the BMS, it would fix itself overnight according to one post I read anyway - not sure if that is the case with the Lightnings.

When you did the manual charge, where did you hook up the charger - to the jump pins or down stream of the BMS? If you put the charger on the battery terminals (negative up stream of the BMS) the BMS will not know the battery has been recharged until it resets or is manually reset.

In that case it will give you those messages and shed loads to maintain critical systems that rely on the 12V battery because it thinks the battery SOC is low.

If none of the above, and the battery is discharging quickly when everything is "off" then there must a big parasitic drain somewhere - maybe that wiper blade text you saw indicates a problem there with the wiring - intermittent short when the wiper system should be off.

Check for any damage to the 12V wiring caused by animals chewing on it - that has happened to several folks and could cause an intermittent short draining the battery.

Electrical wiring issues are some of the hardest and most time consuming things to track down though. If all else fails, I'd take it to a local mechanic who can figure it out for less per hour than the dealership mechanics charge.

 

[chl]

PS: the ABC method for the HV Battery (Always Be Charging - to 80%) is a good idea for any 12V battery except put it on an AGM charger and keep it topped off to 100%.

Just a reminder, connect the negative down stream of the BMS (or the BMS will not know you topped off the battery) as in the post copied below.

 

[Adventureboy]

B1616 - Electrical System High Key Off Load. Parasitic drain can be caused by a number of things but it looks like you are going through the list. It can be caused by something as simple as a bad sensor in a door lock that doesn't let the truck fully shut down the modules.

There is a PIM in your OBD2 readout called Quiescent amperage that shows you the average draw when the truck is shut down. If it is higher than 50mA then it is abnormal and a deeper search to find the problem is needed.

I had initial challenges like this and installed a monitor on the 12v battery. The SOC and Voltage trends were very telling as to where the problem was - in my case, it was my patterns turning the truck on to do a driveway shuffle a couple of times with no significant driving for a couple of days and no decent charge cycle for the HVB (which also charges the 12v).

 

[chl]

Been seeing a lot of 12V battery issues on the various forums lately.
After seeing a few, I put my truck on a trickle charger (NOCO GENIUS1 in AGM mode) to avoid the hassle I hope.
So far so good.

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